Bicycle thieves: A film

by Vittorio De Sica

English, French (translation)

Genres: Film

100 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1968

About the author

Vittorio De Sica (/də ˈsiːkə/ də SEE-kə, Italian: [vitˈtɔːrjo de ˈsiːka]; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.

Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: Sciuscià and Bicycle Thieves (honorary), while Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Il giardino dei Finzi Contini won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Indeed, the great critical success of Sciuscià (the first foreign film to be so recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Bicycle Thieves helped establish the permanent Best Foreign Film Award. These two films are considered part of the canon of classic cinema. Bicycle Thieves was deemed the greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound magazine's poll of filmmakers and critics in 1958, and was cited by Turner Classic Movies as one of the 15 most influential films in cinema history.

De Sica was also nominated for the 1957 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Major Rinaldi in American director Charles Vidor's 1957 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, a movie that was panned by critics and proved a box office flop. De Sica's acting was considered the highlight of the film.

Reviews

[Dr Eman Sonnet · Rating 4 out of 5]

masterpiece

[Madhankumar S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a Screenplay book in tamil translation. I'm still thinking about that.... How does society change a good one into a thief .....

[Akhil Prabhakaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must Read❤️

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic motion picture https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...

[Carol W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

(This is about the movie, not the book it was adapted from.)

One of the best movies I have ever seen, this storytelling wonder put my heart through the wringer and had me gasping in gradual cathartic release at the end.

Notes:

• Bruno, the little boy, is the cutest, manliest little man I have ever seen. He accompanies his dad on their manic quest for the bicycle with the utmost loyalty and maturity, but also dramatically transforms into a child in the restaurant scene. Killer acting.

• Arthur Miller said this movie showed Man’s search for dignity. I say this movie is about something greater: that the love of one’s Family is what bestows one with dignity - no need to search for something that has been quietly accompanying you all the days of your life.

• This is really just a simple, straightforward story of love and familial bond in the meaning stated in the second point above. But few other movies have delivered that message with such a brutal yet elegant impact as this movie has. I felt nothing but growing despair as Antonio, the father, searched for his bicycle with increasing desperation. Yet, all it took was that last scene, where Bruno slipped his hand into Antonio’s while his father cried, for catharsis to unexpectedly bloom. We realise the small, indefatigable pillar of love and support the little boy has been all the while. Hope reappears; we release the breath we’d been holding in our minds throughout the movie. Our sense of amazement grows as we come face to face with the power of love - that has transformed from a tiresome platitude into one of the truths we ought to build our lives on.